SEOUL, South Korea,
Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SK
Telecom (NYSE:SKM) today announced that it will participate in the
2017 GSMA Mobile World Congress to be held from February 27 to March 2, at Fira Gran Via,
Barcelona, Spain. The company has
set this year's theme as "Connect Everything" and will be
showcasing a wide variety of innovative technologies and services
that will transform people's lives in the future.
At its booth located in Hall 3 (3H10), SK Telecom will display
'5G Connected Car,' a vehicle with 5G connectivity and services;
artificial intelligence (AI) platform NUGU and NUGU-powered
devices; technologies and services for IoT-dedicated networks; and
immersive media based on virtual reality technologies
SK Telecom will display 'T5,' which is the world's first 5G
connected car the company has successfully demonstrated in Korea in
November 2016. Connected car,
realized through a combined set of key 5G technologies,
dramatically enhances driving safety and provides immersive
in-vehicle entertainment services via the 5G network that supports
ultra-high speed and ultra-low latency transmission of massive
data. In November 2016, SK Telecom
has built the world's largest 5G testbed at BMW driving center
located in Yeongjong Island and demonstrated interworking between
the end-to-end 5G system and the 5G Connected Car.
Moreover, on February 6, 2017, SK
Telecom has achieved 3.6Gbps transmission speed at 28GHz band for a
connected vehicle moving at 170 kilometers per hour. The 3.6Gbps of
data rate enhances the stability of connected car services by
improving image recognition and V2X (Vehicle to Everything
Communication) technologies. That is, a vehicle can communicate, in
real time, with other vehicles, traffic lights and surveillance
cameras to understand and respond to unexpected situations and
obstacles in a much shorter time.
Besides the 5G Connected Car, SK Telecom will also showcase
federated network slicing, a technology the company has
successfully demonstrated jointly with Deutsche Telekom and
Ericsson, for the first time in the world, on February 14, 2017. In 5G, network slicing will
allow the operator to configure an end-to-end network that provides
the desired overall functionality and service parameters. Federated
network slicing extends this concept to a visited network, meaning
that customers will be able to enjoy the same quality service while
travelling to a different country. At SK Telecom's booth, visitors
will be able to witness how federated network slices can be
created, managed, and terminated in the form of NS-as-a-Service
(Network Slice as a Service). The created slices can be used in
various applications, including V2X and connected cars.
Meanwhile, SK Telecom will also participate in the 5G Automotive
Association (5GAA) forum - to be held in Barcelona from February
21 to 23 - to engage in discussions on 5G-based autonomous
driving services and platform.
Furthermore, Park Jin-hyo, Senior
Vice President and Head of Network Technology R&D Center of SK
Telecom, will take part in the MWC Conference titled "5G Beyond the
Hype: Value and Building Blocks." Park will share SK Telecom's
vision and roadmap for 5G commercialization and talk about
differentiated values 5G is expected to bring to customers. He will
also discuss 5G cooperation with CTOs of global ICT companies
including Nokia and Ericsson.
- Artificial Intelligence & Smart Home
At MWC 2017, SK Telecom will showcase NUGU, a voice-activated AI
platform that understands and processes the Korean language, as
well as intelligent devices powered by NUGU. The company will also
demonstrate interworking between NUGU speaker and Aibril, a
Watson-based AI service.
In September 2016, SK Telecom has
launched an intelligent personal assistant speaker based on NUGU.
Since then, the company has been constantly upgrading the platform,
while carrying out studies on the generation AI devices powered by
NUGU.
Visitors will be able to gain a first-hand experience of the
NUGU speaker, including its 'smart IoT hub' feature that enables
voice control of diverse smart home* devices such as IPTV, air
purifier and gas valve.
*Since launching its first smart home compatible device in
May 2015, SK Telecom has so far
launched over 70 different smart home products under partnerships
with 60 companies throughout the globe. As the leader of the smart
home market in Korea, the company is also working closely with
construction companies to develop its presence in the enterprise
market.
The company will showcase a desktop type AI device by adding
image recognition and hand posture recognition technologies to
voice recognition engine/technology. Unlike other AI devices, it
has a head embedded with a camera and a screen, and can be easily
controlled via hand/finger postures. Going forward, the device will
be able to generate rich information and emotional expressions by
utilizing head movements and screen graphics.
Through the application of its own intelligent image recognition
solution, SK Telecom plans to build a personalization system based
on facial recognition. Once built, the system will offer a tailored
service for each and every member of a family.
SK Telecom will also display Toy Bot, a robot for kids. Applied
with the Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) solution, Toy Bot
offers a calling feature.
Moreover, under cooperation with SK C&C, the information
technology arm of the SK Group, SK Telecom will also demonstrate
interworking between NUGU speaker and SK C&C's Aibril, a
Watson-based AI service, to enable
the speaker to recognize English as well. Building on this, SK
Telecom will continue to cooperate with SK C&C in the area of
artificial intelligence to further strengthen its
competitiveness.
Going forward, SK Telecom will not only expand its
NUGU-compatible smart home product line-up, but will also develop
and offer an intelligent smart home service that automatically
suggests/implements personalized service for each individual. This
will be made possible through the application of machine learning
technology, which conducts comprehensive analysis of a wide range
of information including device use history, lifestyle pattern and
indoor/outdoor environment.
"While making aggressive efforts to develop innovative AI
technologies, SK Telecom will continue to make efforts to expand
the AI ecosystem by joining hands with diverse companies across the
world," said Park Myung-soon, Senior
Vice President and Head of Future Technology R&D Center of SK
Telecom.
Meanwhile, on February 27, 2017,
SK Telecom's CTO Alex Jinsung Choi
will participate in the MWC's AI-related conference titled
"Artificial Intelligence – Chatbots and Virtual Assistants" to
discuss the future of the AI industry with CTOs of global AI firms
including Google and IBM. Choi will give a presentation on SK
Telecom's AI platform 'NUGU'.
In June 2016, SK Telecom completed
the nationwide deployment of LoRa network in Korea. Since then, the
company has been focusing on providing IoT platforms while
presenting various real-life applications of IoT technology based
on its nationwide LoRa network.
At MWC 2017, SK Telecom will showcase LoRa gateway and module,
and demonstrate various adaptable IoT services centered on
metering, tracking and monitoring.
proposing standards for LoRa roaming interworking
SK Telecom is also playing an active role in the establishment
of international standards for LoRa roaming. At MWC 2017, the
company will demonstrate a location-tracking service enabled via
LoRa roaming between Korea and Spain using candidate technologies for
standardization currently being discussed within the LoRa
Alliance.
In addition, ThingPlug, an integrated IoT platform based on
OneM2M standard will also be on the show. ThingPlug allows people
to easily develop IoT services and apply them to their real lives.
The strength of ThingPlug lies in its ability to establish
connections with any device and application based on global IoT
standards.
SK Telecom will unveil its 360-degree live broadcast platform
named '360 Adaptive VR Live Streaming Platform (or 360 VR Live)' at
the MWC.
360 VR Live is an innovative end-to-end broadcast system that
enables users to produce and livestream ultra-high-definition (UHD)
360-degree virtual reality (VR) video with low latency using a
360-degree camera. The platform produces UHD VR content through its
differentiated stitching technology. When it comes to creating
360-degree visuals, it is important to seamlessly stitch multiple
videos or images taken by the 360 camera. Based on multi-band
blending algorithm, the platform stitches images in multi layers to
produce a seamless 360 VR content without any distortion. In terms
of frame rate, it supports 60 frames per second (FPS), which is
translated into two times higher image quality than that of its
competitors.
Moreover, 360 Live VR has significantly reduced the bandwidth
required for transmitting 360 video data. Generally, live streaming
of 360 VR video requires up to six times greater bandwidth than
traditional broadcasting. However with the platform, the size of
the 360 VR video file is reduced by 35 percent, while not
compromising the image quality thanks to dynamic tiling.
In addition, applied with 'T Live Streaming,' an innovative
real-time streaming technology developed by SK Telecom, 360 VR Live
creates a better environment for live broadcasting of 360-degree VR
video by dramatically reducing latency from over 20 seconds to less
than five seconds.
SK Telecom brings T.um Mobile, a travelling ICT museum, to
Barcelona to provide Spanish children with the chance to experience
cutting-edge technologies.
T.um Mobile will be opened as part of the Youth Mobile Festival
(YoMo) Barcelona at Fira Montjuic,
from February 27 to March 2, 2017.
The GSMA and Mobile World Capital Barcelona launched YoMo as part
of Mobile World Congress to inspire young people to pursue
education and careers in science, technology, engineering,
art/design, and math (STEAM) disciplines.
T.um Mobile will offer smart robot-based coding classes at
different levels of difficulty. Moreover, it will feature three
different ICT experience zones designed to enable children to
easily understand technologies that will become mainstream in the
upcoming era of 5G such as virtual reality, augmented reality and
holograms.
About SK Telecom
Established in 1984, SK Telecom is the largest mobile operator
in Korea by both revenue and number of subscribers. As of
December 2016, the company holds
around 50 percent of the market, with 29.60 million mobile
subscribers including 21.1 million LTE subscribers. It has reached
KRW 17.092 trillion in revenue in
2016.
SK Telecom has led the advancement of mobile technologies
ranging from 2G to 4G, and is currently setting important
milestones in its journey to 5G. The company is not only leading
innovation in the field of mobile network, but also providing IoT,
media, home and platform services.
SK Telecom is determined to play a significant role in the
Fourth Industrial Revolution by achieving innovations and promoting
shared growth with other players in the industry.
For more information, please
visit www.sktelecom.com/en or
contact skt_press@sk.com.
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sk-telecom-to-participate-in-mobile-world-congress-2017-300412230.html
SOURCE SK Telecom